An Archbishop’s Home

by Tom Castaldi

The Archbishop Noll House at 1415 West Washington Boulevard has been a landmark home for many in our community at large. In 1994 it was included on the "Fort Wayne Bicentennial Heritage Trail" as one of the outstanding homes in the celebrated West Central Neighborhood

(Editor's note: You can find copies of this book in the History Center's gift shop.)

"The Heritage Trail," a Lasting Legacy developed as part of the 1994 Fort Wayne Bicentennial Celebration, is a walking trail supported by a map and a guidebook. Intended to serve as a core guide to historical places in Fort Wayne, it assembles significant historical sites important in the understanding of the region's history and patterned somewhat after Boston's Freedom Trail.

The Craftsman-style house with the white stucco exterior, later known as the Archbishop Noll House, was built in 1910 by Robert Millard, a prominent wholesale grocer who left Fort Wayne in 1920. Designed by architect Harry W. Wachter, it was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne in 1923 to serve as a residence for Bishop Herman Joseph Alerding, who served as bishop from 1900 to 1925.  In his will, Bishop Alerding left the house to his successor.  In 1925, Reverend John Francis Noll, a Fort Wayne native, was elevated to be the fifth bishop of Fort Wayne, and moved into the home which eventually took his name.

(Editor’s note: you can find a photo of the house at http://www.westcentralneighborhood.org/BldgHistories.htm)

This was home for an extraordinarily accomplished man who directed such efforts as establishing Our Sunday Visitor that became the largest circulated Catholic newspaper in the world and continues today to be the largest Catholic weekly newspaper. Under Noll’s guidance, Central Catholic High School and St. Vincent’s Orphans’ Home – present-day campus of Horizon Christian Academy – were rebuilt and expanded.  He also served significant roles in such national organizations as the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the National Council of Catholic Women, and from here raised the funds that made possible the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Today, visitors to the National Shrine can view a bust of Fort Wayne-native Bishop Noll placed there in his honor for the contributions he made to the completion of the project.

In 1935, in appreciation of the bishop’s tenure, members of the diocese built a wing complete with a chapel in the residence.  The stained glass windows carried portraits of the bishops who had served the diocese, and since have been removed to the Cathedral Museum in the Archbishop Noll Catholic Center on Calhoun Street.  Also found inside are rose marble pillars, ornately carved plaster ceilings, stained-glass windows imported from Germany and Italian murals. As the bishop moved into greater prominence, the home was a most appropriate meeting place for the everyday layman as well as the most distinguished guest seeking his council and/or assistance.

  

In 1953, he was named Archbishop by Pope Pius XII in recognition of his many accomplishments, which was an elevation and a sign of esteem since Noll’s See was not an archdiocese.  Since his death in 1956, the structure has served as a home for Augustinian monks, and later a center for drug abuse victims.  Eventually, it was sold to a succession of private owners some of whom allowed it to fall into a state of disrepair.  The Archbishop’s home has finally been purchased by private individuals; conserved for use as a family home and returned to a state of grandeur.

Originally published in Fort Wayne Monthly “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – May 2010 No 66

Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi is author of the Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail” which is broadcast Mondays on 89.1 fm WBOI; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 fm.  Enjoy his previously published columns on the History Center’s blog “Our Stories” at historycenterfw.blogspot.com.

Other sites you may enjoy about Archbishop Noll:

ttps://www.osv.com/TodaysIssues/Article/TabId/599/ArtMID/13753/ArticleID/11367/Archbishop-John-Francis-Noll.aspx

http://www.todayscatholicnews.org/2012/03/remnants-of-a-bishop/

Julian Benoit

by Carmen Doyle

While he is best known for building the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Benoit contributed in other ways to the history of Catholicism in Fort Wayne.

(For more on the building of the Cathedral, read the December blog post “A Brief History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html)

Benoit's image from the History Center's first floor gallery.

Born in France in 1808, Benoit entered the seminary at age 17. He was an excellent student, and completed his studies to become a priest before he was even old enough to be ordained. Benoit began teaching as a deacon at age 21 and within a few years he became a professor at the Grand Seminary at Lyons, France.

In 1835, Benoit met Bishop Simon Brute from Vincennes, who had come to Lyons in the hopes of attracting young priests to the challenges of the American frontier. Brute stayed for two weeks with Benoit. Benoit was moved by Brute’s descriptions and offered to become a missionary to America.

According to later recollections by Benoit, Brute told him, “You are a spoiled child; you will never do for missions in America; you are accustomed to all comforts; you have such a beautiful position, but in America I can offer you nothing but corn bread and bacon, and not enough of that. There will be many a night when you will have no bed, many a day and night when you will have to be on horseback through the wilderness.”

Benoit replied, “If you can do it, why cannot I… a young man, be able to do it?” Within a year, Benoit came to America.

Benoit spent his first year in America studying English in Baltimore at St. Mary’s Seminary. He was ordained in 1837 and was sent by Brute via the Ohio River to minister to southern Indiana and then to canal towns near Chicago. Benoit came to Fort Wayne in 1840.  

The diocese in Fort Wayne initially included much more than just Fort Wayne. Fr. Benoit ministered to several counties including Huntington, Columbia City, Warsaw, Hessen-Cassel and Decatur among others. Fr. Benoit was often the only priest the counties had, meaning that he could be riding 80 miles on horseback for a sick call.

Fr. Benoit was very trusted among the Miami Indians. When the Miami were forced to leave Fort Wayne and go to Kansas, they begged Fr. Benoit to go with them. Bishop Haliandiere at first refused Fr. Benoit’s request. Government troops were sent to enforce the order and the commanding officer told Fr. Benoit, “Unless you go with them, they will not go, and I will be obliged to hunt them down like wild beasts and kill them.”

Another of Fr. Benoit’s goals was to establish a school for both girls and boys.

The Sisters of Providence arrived to teach the girls and the Brothers of the Holy Cross for the boys. Both schools were divided into English and German, reflecting the culture of Fort Wayne.

When Fr. Benoit came to Fort Wayne, there was not much money- even the small St. Augustine church had a debt. (St. Augustine’s later became the Cathedral.) Fr. Benoit invested his money in real estate and made a large amount of money. The money he made he gave away, funding not only the Cathedral, but also schools, including building a place for the Sisters of Providence to live while teaching in the schools.

Another known act of generosity was the loan of 10,000 francs to help set up Notre Dame University. Fr. Benoit gave away the majority of his wealth quietly  and did not often make publicly known donations except to the recipients.

When Fr. Benoit found out that he had terminal cancer, he began to give away his remaining wealth.  When Bishop Dwenger arrived to give him Last Rites, Fr. Benoit told the Bishop that because he had come “into the world with nothing… I want to go out of it with nothing. I have about disposed of all I had, and you will likely find that you are obliged to pay my funeral expenses.”

Fr. Benoit died in January 1885, after serving Fort Wayne for 44 years, and was buried in the Cathedral in the diocese that he had helped to found and grow.

(Information came from Frontier Faith by George R.  Mather and Biographical Sketch of Rt. Rev. Julian Benoit)

A Brief History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

by Carmen Doyle

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is an imposing structure that dominates the downtown Fort Wayne skyline. It wasn’t always that way.

The Cathedral started life as St. Augustine’s, a small log church, in 1836. In 1857, the Diocese of Fort Wayne was established. With Fort Wayne now the seat of the Diocese, a Cathedral was needed as the principal church for the Bishop’s throne.

Father Julian Benoit had come to Fort Wayne in 1840 and had been planning to build a larger, more impressive church since he arrived. With Fort Wayne now the center of the newly created Diocese, there was even more reason to build a permanent and magnificent church.

Fr. Benoit was the biggest influence on what would eventually become the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  He was the man who raised the money to build the new church. Before he even began to raise money for building, Fr. Benoit had started improvements to the parish. In 1843, three years after his arrival in Fort Wayne, Fr. Benoit opened St. Augustine’s Academy, the first Catholic school in Fort Wayne. Establishing a school meant more families would be attracted to the church and be eager to help improve the parish. By 1846, Fr. Benoit had persuaded the Sisters of Providence to open a girls’ school at St. Augustine.

In 1859, the cornerstone for what would become the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was laid. A short 18 months later, the structure was finished and consecrated. (In contrast, the Allen County Courthouse was begun in 1897 but not dedicated until 1902.)

  

Fort Wayne in this time period really could boast of being “the City of Churches”. There was an informal rivalry between the different religions and parishes in the city to see which of them could build the most elegant place of worship. Fr. Benoit knew he could not rely solely on area Catholics to contribute funds toward building another church.  Some money did come from among Fort Wayne residents, including non-Catholics.  Fr. Benoit visited New Orleans in order to raise money to build the Cathedral in Fort Wayne. However, a large portion of the funds came from Fr. Benoit himself. Fr. Benoit also served as architect for the Cathedral.

Portions of the Square were originally purchased to be used as a cemetery. A European custom was to build a church over the graves of the deceased. The Cathedral is built in part over a Miami Indian burial ground, and as a condition of buying the land where the church sits, it was agreed that those graves would not be touched. A prominent Native American and Catholic originally buried at Cathedral Square is Chief Richardville. In front of the church on Calhoun Street is a boulder with a plaque marking his burial site and telling why he is honored. (The gravesite is Site 41 on the Bicentennial Heritage Trail map.You can also find a more detailed description of why Chief Richardville was honored in a blog post from August.)

Chief Richardville is not the only notable person buried at the Cathedral. Monsignor Benoit, after serving 45 years as a rector for the Diocese, requested to be buried in the Cathedral that he had helped to develop and build. Originally buried at the entrance to the sanctuary, his remains were moved to the crypt when it was constructed in 1906. Also buried in the crypt are Bishop Luers and Bishop Dwenger, the first two bishops of Fort Wayne.

While the Cathedral has experienced many interior changes in its 152 years, the structure has not. The fourteen columns holding up the vaulted ceiling are original, if a different color than what Fr. Benoit had designed. While the stained glass windows along the sides of the church were not installed until 1896, the famous stained glass window over the sanctuary is the same one Fr. Benoit had installed in 1861.  

While today Fort Wayne has more than churches dominating the downtown skyline, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is still one of the most recognizable landmarks. The Cathedral may have undergone some small cosmetic changes over the last century, but it nevertheless rises proudly over Fort Wayne.

Sources

Worthy of the Gospel of Christ-Joseph M. White

E-mail conversation with Janice Cantrell, Archivist for the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend

Frontier Faith- George R. Mather

The Diocese of Fort Wayne (1907) - http://archive.org/details/dioceseoffortway01aler

National Register of Historic Places Inventory- Nomination Form (September 1978)

Welcome to the Cathedral- pamphlet

Reflections: A History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception-booklet available from Cathedral Museum